Gathering-reel mounting for mine locomotives



w. E. WOLF E.

GATHERING REEL MOUNTING FOR MINE LOCOMOTIVES.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

2 SHEET$SHEET I.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I8, 1920. 1,409,328.

mmzr wife, WITNESSES ATTO R N EY W. E. WOLFE.

GATHERING REEL MOUNTING FOR MINE LOCOMOTIVES.

1,409,328 APPLICATION EIL ED MAR. 18, I920. Mar. 14

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR,

Uta

()FF QM WIL IAM EDWIN otan, or wrnnnn, VIRGIN-IA, ASSIGNOR T0 craivcnrrnnnooan CORPORATION, or DANTE, IRGINIA, A oonronarroiv'on VIRGINIA.

GATHERING-REEL; ountains-Fort riocoliro'rrvns,"

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. WOLFE, a citizen of the United States, residing at lVilder, in the county of Russell and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Gathering-Reel Mountingfor Mine Locomotives,of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to gathering reel mountings for'mine, locomotives and its object is to provide for the active propulsion of the gathering reel without the necessity of a separate motor for the purpose and without liability of damage to the cable wound on the reel, and furthermore to reduce wear upon the parts.

In accordance with the invention, the mine locomotive is providedwith a power electric motor whereby the locomotive may be driven from place'to place, as desired Moreover,

the locomotive is provided with a gathering reel for the cable furnishing the power motor with current. Suchfarrangements arecommon in mine locomotives andso need no particular-illustration or description. As heretofore constructed, the gathering reel has been power driven mechanically by gearing connections with the power motor used for propelling the locomotive, or has been fur nished with aseparate electric motor. In the case of a mechanical drive between the power motorand't-hereel, the mechanism has been of a more or less complicated na-.

ture and the arrangement has been such that a considerable portion of the mechanism has been constantly driven while the locomotive is in service, thus contributing to wear and to first costand maintenance costs. in the case of a separateelectrical drive for the gathering reel, additional complications are introduced, the first cost of the installation is materially, increased, and operating troubles are; multiplied. Oftentimes the heavy demand of the power motor'for current will rob the smaller reel driving motor and thus cause sagging of the cable because the power of thesmall motor is reduced and the cable is not taken up fast enough, for which reason the cable may be run over and injured by "the locomotive. Again, in the case of a separate electric motor for driving the reel there are added many points of wear, such as the brushes, the commutator, the numerous bearings and also't-he liability of burnouts.

specifieationof Letters Patent, :Pat t d pI3 14 I Application med mania-1920. sen-arm;366,936.

drives.

In accordance with the invention there is provided an intermediate shaft which isat all times still except when the reelfis being positively rotated to wind the cable thereon; Flexibility of drive between the power motor and themterme diate shaft is obtained by a sprocket connectiom one member of which 15 mounted dlrectly on the axle ormotor armature Shaft, and'the other member of which is loosely mounted on the intermediate shaft, and represents the onlypart of the whole reel: drive which moves, :and'is therefore subjectto wear, when-thelocomotive is moving but the I reel ,is not being driven. Moreover, provision is made for v"the renewal er parts, s'houldahyaccident occur while the locomotive is inthe mine and de'spitethe close quarters'in wvhich the locomotive is necessarily located,-thereby saving the necessity of moving the locomotive from the point where damage may have occurred to a central point where a shopislocated'. .1.

The invention will'be. best understood froma consideration of'the following de= tailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings torming part' of this specification, withtherunderstan'ding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing in the drawings, but maybe c'hangediand modifiedso long'as such changes and modifica; tions -mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. I i In the drawings, V

Fig. 1 is an elevation, with some parts in section, showing so much of a mine locomotive, with the invention applied, as is necessary for rim-understanding of the invention. q H

Fig. 2 is a plan, vi wot a portionrof the structure shown in Fig. 1 and omitting the reel.

intermediate or auxiliaryshaft and some'adjacent parts; r Referringto the drawings, there is shown a portion of; the casing of a mineflocomotive o, r. 1 05 Fig. 3 is a longitudinal axial sectionof'the 1 and also a driving axle 2 and supporting wheels 3 also forming part of the locomotive. The axle 2 is indicated as carrying a car wheel 3 engaged by a pinion 4 mounte on the shaft 5 which may be taken as indicative of the armature shaft of an electric motor simply indicated at 5 in Fig. 2, the whole showing being more or less in the nature of a diagram, for no attempt is made to show these parts with any accuracy since they constitu te in themselves no part of the invention and may be considered as common to mine locomotives.

Secured in the frame of the locomotive 1 are journal bearings 6 each provided with a removable cap 7 suitably alined to receive and support a counter or intermediate shaft 8, the caps 7 being held in place by bolts 7*, so that on the removalof a minimum number of bolts the shaft 8 and parts carried thereby may be readily removed from the locomotive and replaced by another shaft, with the parts belonging thereto, thus making it possible to install repairs or replacements without the necessity of moving the mine locomotive to a repair shop. This is advantageous in that the intermediate shaft, which is the part most liable to wear or damage, maybe replaced in so short a time, say about half an hour, that the delay caused by such replacement is practically negligible. Ordinarily breakdowns in mine locomotives mean'the taking ofthe locomotive-to a repair shop and the putting out of service of notonly the damaged locomotive and perhaps other locomotives, but practicallya large section of the mine force, so that the loss in time means a very material loss tothe mine and to the workmen, all of whichis practically obviated by the invention in providing a structure of small liability to breakdowns, as compared with other installations, and one which may be very readily restored to working conditions with so small a delay in restoring working conditions as to be, from all practical considerations, negligible.

Fast to the shaft 8 there is a sprocket pinion 9, and fast to the shaft 2 is a sprocket wheel 10, the wheel and pinion being connected by a sprocket chain 11 whereby to form a flexible drivebetween the shaft 2, which may be considered as the'power shaft of the locomotive, and the intermediate or countershaft 8.

Mounted on the shaft 8 is an elongated sleeve 12 capable of being moved lengthwise of the shaft and constrained to rotate with the shaft 8: by an intermediate key or spline 13.

The pinion 9 and sleeve 12 are provided with one-way clutch members 14, 15, respectively. The clutch member 14 may be conveniently formed as a part of the hub of the pinion 9 and the clutchmeinber 15 maybe conveniently formed as a portion ofone end of the sleeve 12. The longitudinal movement of the clutch member 15, together with the sleeve12, lengthwise of the sha-ft 8, may

be brought about byan actuating fork 16 .on one end of an arm orlever 17 and engaging in a groove 18 in the clutch member 15.

21 so as to produce positive engagement in one direction and. cam or spiral engagement in the other direction, tending to separate the clutch members. The arrangement is such that on movement in one direction the clutch is positively acting, but will automatically separate. on the movement of the clutch member 14 in the opposite direction.

Carried on top of the locomotive frame 1 is a pedestal 22through which-there extends an upright shaft 23 carrying at the lower end a bevel gear wheel 24: in the path of a bevel pinion 25 keyed to the sleeve 12 so as to participate in the, sliding movements thereof. The shaft 23 rises through and above the top of the pedestal 22, and at the upper end the shaft 23 is screw threaded, as shown rt-2 1 with a nut 25 applied to the screw threaded end. 1 Surrounding the shaft 23 below the nut 25 is a spring 26.

On top of the pedestal 22 is a hearing or friction plate 27 in which there is formed a groove for the receptionof a-friction ring 28 shown as rectangular in cross section, although not necessarily .of such particular shape. The shaft 23 rises through the friction plate ordisk 27, which is keyed to the shaft 7 23 and revolves on top of the pedestal'22. On the frlction ring 28, there is a friction plate 29 carrying a gathering reel 30 fast to the plate 29 by bolts 31 or in any other suitable manner. The spring 26 surrounds the upper end of the shaft 23 and bears on the reel 30, so that the plates 27 and 29 are in frictional engagement through the fric tion ring 28, wherefore there is provided friction-overload-slip means causing the reel to be constrained to rotate with the shaft 23, except When the resistance to such rotation becomes greater than the holding power of the friction means, as determined by the action of the spring 26 and friction ring 28.

If'the locomotive be traveling under power delivered by the locomotive motor to the wheels 3, and the clutch membersl and 15 be disengaged, the axleor shaft 2, and also the motor and theclutch member 14 connected by the chain'll to the axle 2,-are the only rotating parts and consequently the only parts liable to'wear. When the cable carried by the reel 30- is being paid out therefrom the reel idly rotates, although this ro tation is not a free rotation, because of the friction established by the friction ring 28 ma-see and the nut 25, together with the spring 26. When it becomes necessary to wind the cable onto the reel, the lever 17, is manipulated to couple the two members 14 and 15 of the clutch together. The movementof the clutch member 15 into engagement with the clutch member 14 connects the sleeve 12 to the source of power and at the same'time, the pinion 25 is moved into mesh with the gear wheel 24, setting the reel 30 in motion in the proper direction to wind the cable on the reel.

hen the reel is being driven by power to wind the cable thereon, the poweris that furnished by the driving motor of the locomotive. and consequently there can be no variation in the reel speed with respect to the speed of travel of the locomotive. For this reason, there is no danger of slackening of the reel cable while being wound up and of the locomotive running over and damaging it. 7

When it becomes necessary. from one cause or another. to replace the shaft 8 or parts carried thereby, or other parts liable to wear.'

because of the peculiar duties to which a mine locomotive is put, the removal of four bolts '7 is sufiicient to permit taking out the shaft 8 and installing a new shaft; in its place. Because of the simplicity of strucure, this may be done where the locomotive may happen to be located in the mine andl with but a minimum of delay, so that the locomotive need not be moved to some repair point, but may in most cases, be thor-' oughlv repaired. byreplacements or otherwise. in the confines of the mmeand thus avoiding the laying off of the men and the sleeve to and uncoupling it from the axle,

another shaft, separable gearing therefor operable by the sleeve, a winding drum on the last-named shaft, and friction means providing slippage due to the drive of the winding drun i 2. In a mine locomotive, a gathering reel,

connections between the motor of the loco motive and the gathering reel including friction overload slip means comprising a carrying shaft for the gathering reel, friction a countershaft separate from the reel, a fieXi between the second named clutch member members, and a slip member in engagement with the rotatable friction members and engaged thereby, said friction members having associated therewith manually operable con trolling means forvarying the degree of fric-' tional engagement between said friction members.

3. In a mine locomotive, a gathering reel, I ble driving connection between the motor of the locomotive and the countershaft andineluding a one-way clutch,'a sleeve on the countershaft, movable longitudinally of the latter and including the other member of the clutch, separable gearing between the sleeve and the gathering reel, with one memberof the gearing on and movable withthesleeve, 7 said gearing including coacting friction slip means yiel'dable to overload conditions, and manipulating means for the sleeve to simul 'taneously control the clutch and gear members of the sleeve.

4:. In a mine locomotive having a counter shaft, a longitudinally movable sleeve on the counter shaft having a clutch member at one end and a bevel pinion at the other end, another clutch member on and rotatably independent of the shaft, a flexible connection and the power side ofthe locomotive,- a bevel 7 gear wheel into and outof mesh with which 7 the bevel pinion on the sleeveis movable,jand a gathering reel connection to the bevel gear) wheel for rotation thereby, and means under sleeve along the counter shaft "to simultanei ously couple the clutch and move thebevel T pinion into mesh with the bevel gear 'wheel. or to simultaneously disconnect the clutch members and the bevel.

wheel. V p

5. A mine locomotive provided with a drive axle, a countershaft parallel therewith, a sleeve mounted on'and movable longitudinally of the countershaft, a clutchmember. on one end of the sleeve, a. pinion on the other end of the sleeve, a companion clutch" member on the countershaft in position to be connected to the first-named clutch memher, a, gathering reel, an upright shaft mounted on the locomotive and carrying the gathering reel, a gear wheel connected to the upright shaft to drive it, and means for pinion and gear shifting the longitudinally' movable "sleeve on the'countershaft to simultaneously connect or disconnect the clutch members and gears. I; Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aifixed my signatureLIZO WILLIAM nnwm WOLFE."

-9 the control of an. operator for shifting the 

